The Better Business Bureau issued a warning to the region’s heavy equipment vendors last week after a scam that has already taken $1.5 million from businesses was discovered.
The scam involves individuals creating a shop on the internet using actual companies, many of which are closed, in an attempt to look legitimate.
Possible buyers are then going online to research these companies and assume that because the business’s website looks real that online transactions are safe. The scammers have been using such websites as Craigslist, Facebook, and Marketplace to post the equipment and collect the money without sending anything to buyers.
Carl Bates, president and CEO of the BBB Serving Central and South Alabama, said the state’s rural environment lends itself to the scams.
“It’s just the most incredible kind of thing,” said Bates. “It’s the same scammer going from place to place, using Alabama, I guess, because we’re so rural, as the patsy in the deal.
“Alabama is getting a bad name. Some people think, ‘Don’t buy anything from Alabama because it may be a criminal.’”
Bates said buying the equipment without examining it firsthand is not a good idea.
“One, if you’re going to buy heavy equipment sight unseen, that’s a mistake,” he said. “If it’s that kind of an investment, it’s worth a plane ticket or a drive to see what you’re buying.
“At the very least, before you make a major purchase, call us and check it out first.”
He also said businesses can go long periods of time without noticing that they are victims of the scam.
“Businesses in our area are in real danger of having their identity stolen, and basically, they wouldn’t even know it,” Bates said. “A lot of times, the actual business may not know for months that it’s happening, until we get a call asking if they’re a legitimate business. That’s why it has gone on for so long. We may not find the new fake location for a month, until a consumer calls.”
Bates said that the scam is growing in other states as well.
“We’ve seen this a couple of times in Indiana and southern Illinois, other rural areas, but not to the extent that it’s happening here,” Bates said. “They are preying on smaller businesses out there in rural areas, where there’s very little media, no investigative reporters, not a lot of people trying to dig this out and publicize it.”
The FBI is currently investigating the matter.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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